• Home
  • Escapes and Pleasures
  • Family and Friends
  • Go Sox
  • The Outer Loop
  • Articles of Interest

MillersTime

MillersTime

Monthly Archives: December 2012

The Books Most Enjoyed by MillersTime Readers in 2012

29 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Favorite Books, Favorite Books Read This Year, Millerstime, MillersTime Readers's Favorite Books

Ursula Klawitter / Corbis

Ursula Klawitter / Corbis

First, much thanks to all who sent in your favorite reads, those who have done so in the past — and continued to do so —  and the dozen or so new contributors too.

Please forgive my endless reminders, tho the results, I believe, may have been worth the nagging. (Late additions will be posted as they arrive, without any snarky comments from the editor.)

I often heard three comments from readers:

  • “Nothing really great this year…”
  • “I can’t really remember (all of) what I’ve read…but here are a few…”
  • *As I get older, I find I’m reading more nonfiction…”

Nevertheless, seventy of you contributed this year, listing 250 different books, split virtually evenly between fiction and nonfiction. The female-male division was 54%-46% (F/M), about what it has been in the past.  About 20% of you were in what I would loosely call the ‘younger’ category, under approximately 39 years of age (my definition of ‘younger’ continues to expand).

I’ve made several adjustments in my posting of the results of what you’ve sent:

  • I’ve listed contributors alphabetically to make it easier for you to find specific individuals to see what they have enjoyed.
  • I have put stars (****) in front of all books that have been listed more than once.  The number of stars refers to the number of times the book appears as a favorite (and NOT how highly individuals rated a book).
  • On a separate link, you can see in one place all the books that were listed more than once this year.
  • For those of you who may want to see the lists from previous years, simply click on which year you want to review – 2009, 2010, 2011.

For a quick overview, titles that appeared five or more times were:

  •  Behind the Beautiful Forevers (NF) by Katherine Boo – 7
  •  The Passage of Power (NF) by Robert Caro -6
  •  This Is How You Lose Her (F) by Junot Diaz – 6
  •  The Hare with Amber Eyes (NF) by Edmund de Waal – 5
  •  Gone Girl (F) by Gillian Flynn – 5
  •  Cutting for Stone (F) by Abraham Verghese – 5

But as is often said, “the devil is in the details.”  I suspect one of the strengths of this (and previous) year’s list has more to do with what contributors said about why they enjoyed certain books rather than the number of times a book was listed.

When I printed out the lengthy list you are about to see, I found 20 different titles I immediately marked for my ‘to read’ list for the coming year and another 29 that also interested me.  Many of these were only mentioned once or twice.

Just a reminder that this list is not meant to be the best books published in 2012, but rather what the title of this posting states – ‘The Books Most Enjoyed by MillersTime Readers in 2012.’

And, of course, I take responsibility for any inaccuracies or mistakes in the posting of the titles, authors, comments, etc. as MillersTime readers rarely make grammatical or other mistakes in their submissions. Please feel free to let me know about any of my errors as I can correct them quickly and easily.

Continue reading »

Share

Seven More Films: Mini-Reviews

20 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

" "Detropia", "A Late Quartet", "A Royal Affair", "Burn", "Central Park Five", "Chasing Ice", "Quartet", "Sky Fall", "The Fitzgerald Family Christmas", "The Life of Pi", "West of Memphis, Documentaries, Films, Movies, Searching for Sugarman

Mini-reviews here of seven films I’ve seen over the last month or so (it’s great to be retired and also to belong to the DC Sunday morning Cinema Club).

And these don’t include Flight, Zero Dark Thirty, Jack Reacher, Les Miserables, and The Waiting Room (any other suggestions?), all of which I plan to see in the next ten days. Nor do they include recently reviewed movies on MillersTime: West of Memphis, Silver Linings Playsbook, A Late Quartet, Lincoln, and Argo.

Once I see the five listed above, I’ll have a post listing the movies this year that I’ve give ratings of four, four and a half, and five stars.

Continue reading »

Share

Life After Death? A Current Controversy

15 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

" "Seeing God in the Third Millenium, "Hallucinations, "Proof of Heaven, "The Science of Heaven, David P. Stang, Dr. Eben Alexander, Dr. Oliver Sacks, Near Death Experiences

VS

Family and friends can take you to some really strange ‘places.’ After joining my wife on a trip to Peru and into the Amazon recently, I went to Columbus, OH for six days for the Obama campaign because a friend urged me to do so. And now another friend wants to take a small group of us on horseback through the battlefield at Gettysburg. And then there’s this posting.

Continue reading »

Share

If You’ve Seen “Lincoln,” or Plan to…

14 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

" "Lincoln, " Lincoln Group of D.C., "Team of Rivals, "The Fiery Trial, Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearn Goodwin, Eric Foner, Richard Margolies, Stephen Spielberg

(Having seen the Lincoln film, and mini-reviewed it on MillersTime, I got to wondering what folks who ‘know Lincoln’ and spend lots of time getting to know him even better would say about the film. I asked Richard Margolies, an active member of the DC Lincoln Group and one of those folks who spends a good deal of time increasing his knowledge of Lincoln, about the validity of Spielberg’s film and whether the Lincoln presented is one we can believe in. Here’s his response, with a few edits)

Abraham and Mary Todd In Context

by Richard Margolies

Spielberg’s Lincoln is masterful.  It shows our greatest leader during a few weeks in January, 1865 working to gain the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in the House of Representatives.  It focuses on his relationships, as portrayed by Doris Kearn Goodwin’s fine study, Team of Rivals.

Yet, like the story of blind people touching parts of an elephant, it is difficult to understand the whole person from a touch.  A few examples.

Continue reading »

Share

Why Do We Love Sports?

10 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Agents, Coaches, Fans, Players, Sports Enthusiasts, Sports Fans

I’m ‘working with’ an eighth grader at a local school who for a major two year project he will complete this year is trying to determine “Why People Like Sports.” (Not so different, I guess, from a question a friend asked asked me as we were leaving a Nats’ game earlier this year: why are these games so important to us?)

Anyway, my young friend is looking for “sports’ enthusiasts – players, coaches, agents, fans – who are willing to be interviewed for this project.

The end result will be “a radio documentary/podcast about the root of why people like sports.” I participated in a 20 minute interview last month and mentioned that I’d be willing to help find others who might also be willing to be interviewed.

These interviews can be conducted “by phone, email or whatever is most convenient,” including in-person interviews if you are in the DC area.

If you are willing to help out, my young friend has a list of questions he is ready to ask you. Just let me know (Samesty84@gmail.com) if you are willing to participate and what is the best way for him to be in touch with you. I’ll pass on your contact info to him. Also, if you know anyone who works/plays in sports for a living, he would very much like to interview some of those folks also.

Maybe we will learn why so many of us are obsessed by which ever sport has taken on a life of its own in our own lives.

 

 

Share

Ellen’s Pix from Brasilia

10 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Brasilia, Ellen Miller Photos, Oscar Niemeyer

Brasilia and Oscar Niemeyer

by Ellen Miller

One of the 20th century’s most influential architects — Oscar Niemeyer – died last week at the age of 104.

I felt lucky that just about 3 weeks prior I got a first hand introduction to his work when I was in Brasilia, a city for which he designed nearly every major building. As one architect said on his passing, “Brasilia is not simply designed, it is choreographed.”

That’s a perfect summary of my experience — not only did the buildings and the plazas hang together, but they were nearly picture perfect. (Though I found it hard to do justice to them.)

I was in Brasilia – my first trip there, but second to Brazil within six months – to speak at Transparency International’s conference – a gathering of nearly 2,000 from nearly every country in the world. Whenever possible on these speaking trips I try to sneak away for an afternoon when I am not needed, and hire a guide to learn something I couldn’t pick up from a guidebook.

Continue reading »

Share

“You Might as Well Be a Mensch”

06 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ Leave a Comment

Tags

""The Tummy Triology", "About Alice", "Deciding the Next Decider", "Dogfight", "Family Man", "Messages from My Father", "Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin", "Remembering Denny", Calvin Trillin, Politics & Prose Bookstore

Having the good fortune to live in the same city where the independent bookstore Politics & Prose is located, I stopped in last night to see and hear one of my favorite authors, humorist Calvin Trillin.

NYTimes photo

Trillin was in town to promote his latest book, Dogfight, a slim volume of his ‘deadline’ poetry (doggeralls, so to speak) about the 2012 Presidential campaign. This book is a sequel to his 2008 Deciding the Next Decider.

Lamenting that only one party had a primary fight and that he had already used up his Obama rhymes in 2008, he told the assembled (and aging) audience that he liked ‘iambic candidates,’ such as Ross Perot, John McCain, Chris Dodd, and Bob Dole. He read from his new book, mostly poking fun at Mitt Romney and the string of Republican candidates who ‘challenged’ him. He also admitted he once told Hilliary Clinton she had a bad name and was “insufficiently iambic.”  He claimed Hilliary took that as a great complement.

Mixed in with his ‘poetry’ in Dogfight are perhaps a half dozen “Pauses for Prose,” most of which I think are probably better than his poems.  In fact, generally I think his prose is much better than his verse.

But Trillin has long been a hero of mine, especially since he campaigned for making spaghetti carbonara our national dish and also admitted he didn’t like turkey and always “goes for Chinese” on Thanksgiving.

Trillin was born (1935) and grew up in Kansas City and has written for most of his life for The Nation and The New Yorker magazines. He has somehow maintained, retained, Midwestern cultural and regional values despite his living in Greenwich Village for more than 40 years. The title of this post, “You Might as Well Be a Mensch,” is his often quoted line of the advice his Kansas City father gave him.

If you don’t know Calvin Trillin and if you enjoy a dry sense of humor, mixed with self-deprecation and writings about family (specifically his two daughters, Sarah and Abigail and his wife Alice), food, and travel, you have some fun ahead.

You could start with any of these:

*About Alice

*Messages from My Father

*Family Man

*Remembering Denny

*The Tummy Trilogy (“American Fried,” “Alice, Let’s Eat,” and “Third Helpings”)

*Travels with Alice

*Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin (40 Years of Funny Stuff)

Share

♣ Search



♣ Featured Posts

  • The List: “MillersTime” Readers’ 2024 Favorite Books
  • Returning to Sedona, AZ
  • Looking for Good Films to See?
  • And the Winners Are…
  • The Book List: 2023
  • The Lake Country: Thru Ellen’s Lens
  • I Did It Again
  • Readers’ 2023 Mid-Year Favorite Books
  • By the Sea, By the Beautiful Sea…
  • Yes, It’s True…I Biked from Bruges to Amsterdam!
  • Carrie Trauth Made the World a Better Place
  • “I Used to Be a Human Being” – Andrew Sullivan
  • Sam Miller: “There Is Never Enough.”
  • When I Was 22…
  • The Best $50 I’ve Spent All Year…Even Though It’s Free

♣ Recent Comments

  • David Price on 2025 MillersTime Baseball Contests
  • Andrew Cate on 2025 MillersTime Baseball Contests
  • chris eacho on 2025 MillersTime Baseball Contests
  • Ed Scholl on 2025 MillersTime Baseball Contests
  • Anthony leon on “The Secret History of Tiger Woods”

♣ Archives

  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • March 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • April 2023
  • February 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011

♣ Sections

  • Articles & Books of Interest
  • Escapes and Pleasures
  • Family and Friends
  • Go Sox
  • The Outer Loop

Proudly powered by WordPress Theme: Chateau by Ignacio Ricci.